Supreme Court

Media coverage of the Supreme Court tends to be dominated by the scoreboard, with stories chronicling the number of closely divided cases won by the "liberal" and "conservative" wings of the Court. But as we start chalking up wins and losses for the October 2007 term, we should pause: too much staring at the scoreboard can obscure what's really happening on the field (or bench). Conservative "wins" mean something very different now, because the conservative judicial project has changed dramatically.

Dear Editor, I would like to strongly encourage everyone in Danville to vote for my good friend Mary Noble. Judge Mary Noble was a high school teacher and a college professor before she went to law school. In the last 15 years, she has presided over more than 14,000 cases, showing respect for everyone in her courtroom. Judge Noble has the experience, integrity and wisdom to serve on the Supreme Court with honor. Please join me in voting for Mary Noble, whose name fits her character.

LIBERTY - Casey Circuit Judge James G. Weddle will remain on the bench to hear the Bendschneider child custody case. The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that Weddle "failed to demonstrate any disqualifying circumstance which would require the appointment of a special judge," according to an order signed by Chief Justice Joseph Lambert. The request for a special judge was denied. Arletta D. Bendschneider, who is seeking custody of her two children, asked for Weddle's recusal in December.

Two recent decisions reflect a sharply divided Supreme Court. Such decisions provide little or no guidance to litigants and provoke doubt regarding the legitimacy and expected duration of the current law. Several weeks ago, the Court heard arguments in a case involving the federal Clean Water Act ("CWA"). Implementation of the Act has led to regulation of private lands with little or no connection to any navigable waterway. As a result of the Act, developers must deal with increasing bureaucracy when contemplating nearly any building project.

Since 1994 Oregon physicians have been permitted by statute to help their patients commit suicide. The federal government's challenge to that law will be argued on Wednesday before the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the court is likely to base its eventual decision on legal technicalities rather than on the real issue: an individual's unconditional right to commit suicide. The Oregon law that is under attack permits a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to a mentally competent, terminally ill patient who makes written and oral requests, consults two physicians, and endures a mandatory waiting period.

Dear Editor, Why does Supreme Court vote on something already on books? What is this country coming to when people made this country's highest court vote on an item that has already been addressed over 200 years ago? The item of business: the right to bear arms. This was brought up to our federal officials over two centuries ago, and they, the officials, wrote up what is sometimes referred to as the Bill of Rights. In this proclamation is the right to bear arms in order to protect ourselves.

Dear Editor: This election is probably one of the most important we've ever had. Why? Because the next president will be appointing two to four Supreme Court justices. According to Senator Kerry, the new appointees must pass a litmus test. They cannot overturn Roe vs. Wade. They will even be allowed to legislate from the bench. "Changing times require changing thoughts/beliefs," Kerry has said. Our founding fathers wanted three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Dear Editor, If you are looking for a good conservative candidate for Supreme Court justice, please consider keeping Justice Roach. Rarely do we have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who has such good conservative moral values that all of us who claim to be Christians admire. During the 10 years that I have known John, I have observed the success he has enjoyed mostly practicing civil law. In my view as a layman, this field of law requires the very best and brightest in the profession.

The Kentucky Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeals decision in the case of Papa John's, International, Inc. v. McCoy, upholding arguments made by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in an amicus brief filed on behalf of Kentucky businesses. Central to the case was whether a franchisor can be held liable for the actions of a franchisee's employee over whom it has no control of hiring or managing. The Court of Appeals took what the Supreme Court called a "mixed bag" of legal theories in finding that a franchisor could be liable, but in its decision overturning the Court of Appeals ruling, the Supreme Court recognized that it had to "take a more precise approach given the ubiquity of the franchise method of doing business in Kentucky.

As the search for a Supreme Court justice to replace David Souter heats up, political pundits and analysts are talking about what litmus test, if any, President Obama might apply when vetting a nominee. But scientific metaphors are not needed in this situation - basic math skills are. An early childhood mathematics concept called one-to-one correspondence shows us that President Obama needs to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court. Currently, 51 percent of the country's population is female.

We've seen that many in Kentucky's legislature and teachers unions are adamant enemies of school choice in the commonwealth. The Kentucky Education Association has worked for years with powerful politicians to keep even the most rudimentary types of school choice - like the charter schools found in 41 other states and the District of Columbia - from winning out in Kentucky. But a recent ruling has revealed another player in that axis against any type of educational liberty: the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Judicial centers will be closed statewide and all court services will be unavailable Monday as the Kentucky judicial branch shuts down for the third of three furlough days in 2012. This will be the first time since Kentucky's modern court system was formed in 1976 that the judicial branch must close judicial center doors to balance its budget. The furloughs will affect only non-elected court personnel, who will be off work without pay as part of the judicial branch's fiscal-year 2013 budget-reduction plan.

LIBERTY - A Casey County man charged with trafficking in marijuana and driving under the influence in 2009 will likely have his case dismissed after the state Supreme Court ruled that the evidence against him was gathered during an illegal road block conducted by Liberty police. In a ruling handed down Thursday, the high court reversed the Court of Appeals and ruled that the evidence against Joseph S. Singleton should be suppressed from trial because it was obtained during a checkpoint set up with the intention of checking motorists for city stickers.

You can devalue a word through overuse, “genius” and “hero” spring to mind. So it is with trepidation that I use a word to describe medical procedures being required by several state legislatures to deter women from seeking abortions, but there is a time to call a thing what it is, and in this case, that word is rape. Due to a horrific political backlash and vice-presidential aspirations, Virginia's governor has backed off the requirement, but Pennsylvania and other states are plunging on with laws that  require women seeking an abortion to be subjected to a transvaginal ultrasound.

A Kentucky Supreme Court ruling Thursday left Winchester and several other city and county governments responsible for paying back overtime pay to firefighters. The court ruled Thursday that municipal governments are subject to Kentucky wage and hour laws and are not immune from a lawsuit by the Kentucky Labor Cabinet to collect the money. The ruling means Winchester is responsible for an estimated $750,000 in overtime pay for time worked by firefighters over a five-year period. The problem began after the Labor Cabinet changed the formula that cities and counties had been told to use to calculate the overtime rate for firefighters.

The city of Nicholasville could be looking for loose change in its pockets after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that the municipality is responsible for paying years of lost overtime to its firefighters. An Aug. 25 court decision ruled against the city of Nicholasville and 11 other agencies and in favor of the Kentucky Labor Cabinet. The case was an appeal of a Franklin Circuit Court ruling that said the agencies were not immune from paying retroactive overtime after an overtime calculation was changed in 2009.

The U.S. Supreme Court has given us two terms of remarkable support for free expression — in cases remarkable for speech that many, if not most, of us really, really dislike. And its ruling June 27 that the states cannot forbid the sale or rental of video games to children punctuated its recent free-expression record with an exclamation point. In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the Court’s 7-2 decision voided a never-enforced California law that banned the sale or rental to children age 17 and younger of video games involving violence, gore and assault.

Faith Christian first wielded the powers of justice in November as chief justice of the Supreme Court at the Kentucky Youth Assembly, a three-day, student-run model of Kentucky’s General Assembly. The experience not only taught Christian about the judicial system but about herself. “It gave me the insight that I can really be an objective person, and I think that’s really important if I want to be a justice someday,” she said. Christian will pursue her dream by studying pre-law at the University of Kentucky this fall and continuing to law school after receiving her bachelor’s degree.

The Kentucky Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Winchester man accused of causing the death of his 10-year-old daughter. In an opinion dated April 15, the Kentucky Supreme outlined its decision to reverse the conviction of Patrick Watkins, but affirmed the conviction of Watkins’ wife, Joy, the child’s stepmother. The couple began serving life sentences on Oct. 9, 2008, after a jury found them guilty of beating and burning Michaela Watkins on March 11, 2007.